Little respite for Delhi on Sunday: Banks shut, ATMs dry

At places, queues formed up within minutes of news spreading word of mouth that cash was being dispensed at a particular ATM

People stand in a long queue outside an ATM to withdraw money in Gurugram on Sunday. (Source: PTI)

Shortage of cash continued to trouble people in the national capital today, the second Sunday post demonetisation, which saw banks shut and ATMs running dry in most places. In many areas, people, in desperate need of short change, ran from one ATM to the other, with few managing to withdraw and the rest left dejected as machines emptied out before their turn.

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At places, queues formed up within minutes of news spreading word of mouth that cash was being dispensed at a particular ATM.

“I went looking for cash at an ATM in Central Delhi. As soon as I entered the details, there was deduction from my account but the machine did not disburse any cash,” Jheelum Mitra, an IT professional, said.

On weekdays, Delhi Police have been deploying about 12,000 personnel outside banks and ATMs to manage crowd. Banks have been serving only their respective customers and are not exchanging the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from customers of other banks since yesterday.

However, this restriction was not applicable on senior citizens yesterday as they were allowed to visit any bank branch to exchange old defunct currency notes. The exchange limit has already been less than halved to Rs 2,000 to ease some pressure on cash demand.